Does the information source have all of the following characteristics:

1. Written by an expert in the field.

2. In-text citations. 3. A bibliography (list of all

sources used)

Academic material

Has the source been reviewed by at least one referee before publication?

Non-academic material

Peer-reviewed, academic material

Non-peer-reviewed, academic material

Yes No

Yes No

Figure 1. Flow chart for discriminating among different sources of information available to biology students. The different types of information sources are identified in bold text.